How do you explain space-time to a child?
Space-time facts for kids
- Space-time is a mathematical model that joins space and time into a single idea called a continuum.
- Combining these two ideas helped cosmology to understand how the universe works on the big level (e.g. galaxies) and small level (e.g. atoms).
What does the theory or relativity say about the nature of space-time and gravity?
General relativity is physicist Albert Einstein’s understanding of how gravity affects the fabric of space-time. Special relativity argued that space and time are inextricably connected, but that theory didn’t acknowledge the existence of gravity.
How do you explain space time?
In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model which fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why different observers perceive differently where and when events occur.
What is the relationship between light and time?
Local speed of light is a universal constant, 299,792,458 meters per second. One nanosecond is the time taken by light to travel 0.299,792,458 meters, about a foot. If time runs slow, the speed of light is slow.
Why is the theory of relativity called a theory?
How does it gets its name? Einstein’s theory gets its name because it describes how measurements of space and time differ for observers moving relative to one another. 3. You also say that “relativity” is in some sense a misnomer for Einstein’s theory, because the theory rests on foundations built from two absolutes.
What is the relationship between space and gravity?
Special relativity argued that space and time are inextricably connected, but that theory didn’t acknowledge the existence of gravity. Einstein spent the decade between the two publications determining that particularly massive objects warp the fabric of space-time, a distortion that manifests as gravity, according to NASA.
What is the theory of space-time?
According to the best of current physical theories, space-time explains the unusual relativistic effects that arise from traveling near the speed of light as well as the motion of massive objects in the universe. Who discovered space-time?
Is gravity the warping of space and time?
The equivalence principle tells us that the effects of gravity and acceleration are indistinguishable. In thinking about the example of the cylindrical ride, we see that accelerated motion can warp space and time. It is here that Einstein connected the dots to suggest that gravity is the warping of space and time.
How does gravity affect the passage of time?
Gravity slows the passage of time. Similar to how the passage of time is changed under special relativity, general relativity predicts that massive objects will also dilate time. The more massive the object, the more noticeable the effect.